ABOUT THE WORK

The creation or genesis of rocks, with their characteristic metamorphic structure, could not have been lost on Ramon Orlina. His understanding of the forces at work in the creation/manufacture of glass in his interpretations of natural rock/crystals for his sculptures is evident. Essentially, his art involves a reductive process of direct carving on the raw, irregularly shaped blocks in dark tones because of the high silica content of the industrial material. Unlike sculptors of wood or stone, however, he does not work on the material with a chisel: instead, he uses grinding tools and abrasive powders to give it shape, as in jade sculpture. The result is a startling transparency frozen in space.